A British mining company recently received clearance from the Angolan government to begin a diamond exploration program in Angola’s Cuango River Basin, a first since the end of the country’s 27-year-old civil war.

The Angolan Council of Ministers has approved an agreement that allows IDAS Resources NV, a subsidiary of London-based America Mineral Fields, to utilize the company’s two alluvial diamond licenses, which are located north of the Cuango River Basin, next to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The agreement stipulates that IDAS has a 51 percent stake in a new joint venture until all shareholder loans are repaid. Endiama, the state-owned diamond company, owns 36 percent, while the remaining 13 percent is owned by private interests.